Running

Alleyway and Apartment

TW: Fainting, Screaming

We burst through the fire exit of the building and don't stop running for a good ten minutes. We stop when we get to the main city area, finding an appropriate-sized alleyway. I pause and take some deep breaths. The second we've stopped running and are reletively safe, I look up and see that the snake-faced boy has passed out onto the floor of the alleyway. Patton sighs and picks him up, putting him down on some cardboard.

"Better now than while we were running." I joke. Remus laughs slightly.
"Aha, yeah."

We settle down and I stretch my wings out. We make some small talk for a bit, by that, I mean, we talk about what happened today and yesterday. Roman tells us that he and Patton went upstairs and smashed the glass in his room, climbing down from the windowsil to the gutter pipes and eventually being able to jump down to the side of the house without hurting themselves. He told us that they stayed for a bit and followed the van from a distance. Well, they didn't exactly follow it directly, but they saw which roads it took. Night starts to fall and I realise that I'm going to get really cold.

I left my jacket at the lab, and don't have anything else. At some point during the conversation, Roman asked about my jacket and I told him. Logan said it was a very smart thing to have done. It probably was a good idea, but right now, as I shiver under the moonlight, I wish I hadn't made such a smart desicion.

We're all still awake, well, excluding Janus. A woman walks past the alleyway and stops. She notices us and screams at the top of her lungs. I have to cup my hands over my ears to stop it defeaning me. The loud noise seems to startle Janus awake aswell. When she finishes screaming she starts to shake and quivers.

"Pl-please.. please d-d-don-don't hurt m-me!" She whimpers. I flinch as Patton goes over to reassure her.
"Hey, hey, shush, it's okay, we aren't gonna hurt you." She crawls back at Patton's approach, before getting up and running off down the pavement. (Or, sidewalk, for any American or Canadian readers)

Patton looks startled, and Logan comes behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"We need to leave. She could call the police." I sigh, atleast if we're running or walking I'll keep my body heat up. Then suddenly, Patton's eyes light up.
"Emile!"
"Huh?"
"My friend! Emile Picani! We can go to his apartment! I can't believe I didn't remember before!"
Remus looks hesitant. "Is he one of us..?"
"No, but, his parents were! He won't rat us out or anything, if that's what's bothering you."

And with that, we walk down the roads, I try to stay hidden, and so does J. Staying in the shade. The other four walk around us so that people can't see. There was this one old lady on a bus stop that noticed me. But, she just laughed under her breath and waved to us. She even gave us some money for food. Very nice lady, actually. We spoke for a bit with her, and she told us that back in her day she took part in some riots to get equality for people like us. We actually sat for a while, until we realised that we had a destination.

Approaching Picani's building, I start to think about everything we did wrong walking here. A million people probably saw us. Let's be real, the police are probably on their way here right now and-
"Virgil?" I'm snapped out of my thoughts as Logan calls my name from inside the elevator.
"Sorry."

We go to the fifth floor to apartment 503. I sigh and look around for cameras. I don't think there are any.

Patton raises his hand and knocks on the door.

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Woah! Two chapters in one day? Who is this new person who has replaced the author?

Another update will come in the next 24 hours, maybe even another today if I have the energy later.
Thanks for reading you lovely people!